The Thrill Of The Chase
by Nightw2
Summary: Set six years after the end of the last Aladdin movie, this short fluff piece stars Iago. Rated PG just for safety.


Note: This short story is set a bit over six years after the end of "Aladdin and the King of Thieves". Since several of the characters mentioned in this story is copyrighted by Disney, I naturally have NO profit motive with this.  
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Iago flew about the Rain Forest at full speed, looking as if he was searching for the greatest treasure on Earth and, his mind's eye, he was actually searching for FOUR of the greatest treasures in the world. "Okay you little scamps, I know your around here somewhere." Iago said with a surprising chuckle when a green feathered female parrot three times his size flew up behind him and playfully covered his eyes.  
  
"Maybe, father, but you WON'T catch us." laughed the young-looking female parrot as she spun Iago around and flew off.  
  
"Hey, come back here, Cassie." the older red-feathered parrot shouted as he flew off after her thinking to himself that he named her quite appropriately; her namesake being the long-reformed former master thief turned adventurer for hire, Cassim (who was Iago's partner for five years and was still one of the parrot's best friends even now, more than a year after Iago put an end to their partnership to concentrate on his then-upcoming parenthood). Even though Cassie was three times her father's size, she could still sneak up on him quite skillfully.  
  
As Iago flew as fast as his wings would allow, he failed to notice a piece of tropic fruit flying right at him. As Iago got nailed he thought to himself "Abu". Sure enough, he turned downward to see a young-looking male bird who, except for having a long thin beak and yellow tailfeathers, looked just like Iago did when he was only was only a year old. This younger bird stuck his tongue out at Iago in a manner that reminded the older parrot a great deal of the feisty and mischievous monkey that the red-feathered fruit-flinger was named after.  
  
"Catch us if you can, dad." Abu shouted in a manner that suggested good-natured ribbing.  
  
"You bet I will, you scarlet-feathered stinker." Iago said laughingly as he flew into the trees and grabbed a set of vines that he used to tie up the young fruit-flinger (albeit not so tightly as to indicate abuse). "One down, three to go" Iago thought to himself as he flew back out of the trees toward the Rain Forest waterfall, where another young female bird who looks a lot like Cassie except for being only Iago's size instead of three times Iago's size and having blue eyes instead of yellow ones converts a dead reed into a blow gun and squirts Iago from behind with a flawlessly aimed water blast. "Think you can beat your old man with a sneak water attack, eh, Ally?"  
  
"The thought DID cross my mine, daddy dearest." The green-feathered little scamp said with a good-natured laugh as he tried to fly off, only to get rather heavily soaked by her father after she was clear of the waterfall but BEFORE she could fly too high.  
  
"Two down and two to go." Iago chuckled as he thought back to just a little over a year earlier when he first found out that his longtime girlfriend, the Rain Forest queen known as Thundra, was pregnant. At first, he was willing to stay in the Rain Forest to be there for his upcoming family, but didn't know how he was going to manage them (of course he knew that he was the one who was going to have to watch them most of the time; Thundra was a career woman and Iago cared about her enough that he wanted to make sure the kids didn't drive her TOO nuts). Now, he considers his two sons and two daughters four of the five most precious treasures in the world; more valuable to him than all the gold and jewels in the world. Ironic considering that, because of his greed and ego, he ended up ALMOST losing the fifth forever before the other four could even be conceived.  
  
As he continued his search for his last two children, Iago saw something coming at him from high-up in the clouds. Upon closer examination, he found out that it was a young-looking male parrot five times his size with red and green feathers and a long but semi-plump-looking beak. With the pose and confidence of a champion bull-fighter, Iago expertly side-stepped (well, performed the airborne equilvalent of a side-step) the young feathered dive-bomber, used some leftover vine from when he was securing Abu to lasso one of the legs of his young assailant and tied the other end of that vine to a sturdy branch. "Nice try, Genie, but no cupie doll." Iago said with a laugh that was based on good-natured ribbing-based.  
  
"Awww, come on, pop." Genie belowed mockingly as Iago flew into the waterfall entering the area that Mechanikles used as a hideout many years earlier.  
  
"Okay, Cassie, come on out. I already caught your siblings and I know you're in here. In fact, I'd say you're HERE." as he points to Cassie's hiding place.  
  
"How did you know where I was, father?" Cassie asked with a smile.  
  
"Simple; your trail of feathers let me right to you. It's molting season and I'm afraid you get that molting problem from MY side of the family." Iago said with a good-natured chuckle.  
  
Later that evening, Thundra flew up behind Iago and said "I hope the ninos weren't TOO much trouble, my little jibblet." looking lovingly at her mate.  
  
Iago gave a polite chuckle and said "Hey, as long as they don't drive you crazy, I don't mind watching them, Thundra." Iago said sincerely as he thought back to all his relationship with Thundra had survived; numerous fights, a six-month break-up and every other obstacle the powers above and below could throw at them. In fact, it was during that six-month break-up that Iago finally realized how much Thundra REALLY meant to him. He had changed a great deal between the break-up and their eventual reconciliation and, believe it or not, most of those changes actually stuck (though it WAS over the course of the couple's reconciliation that Iago actually got Thundra pregnant, as the parrot found out upon a casual visit three weeks after he and Thundra reconciled).   
  
Now, precisely one year after their quadruplets hatched, Iago looked back in disgust at the way he was less than two years earlier. The only thing that DIDN'T disgust him about the way he was less than two years earlier was how much he truly did care about his friends, which was one of the very few things about him that HADN'T changed over the last two years. Still, of all those surprised by how much he and Thundra made it through, Iago himself was the most (pleasantly) surprised of all that he and Thundra made it through together.  
  
Seeing that their children were peeking in while Thundra had him in a firm but gentle embrace, Iago semi-calmly replied "Excuse us, kids, but your mother and I would like a little privacy right now."  
  
"No problem, dad." all four children said in disgust about what they were looking in on and added "You know we can't stand that mushy stuff anyway."  
  
Iago sighed and said "Sometimes, I think they take TOO MUCH after me."  
  
"Si, mi amour, but they'll get over it. You did." Thundra replied with a seductive smile.  
  
The End  
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As aforementioned, several of the characters mentioned in this story are copyrighted by Disney, so I worte this purely for entertainment purposes. Hopefully, this little fluff piece isn't TOO bad for your taste and I profusely appologize if it is. 


End file.
